Christie: 'I don't give a damn about Election Day'

The upcoming election is the last thing on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s mind.

“I don’t give a damn about Election Day. It doesn’t matter a lick to me at the moment. I’ve got bigger fish to fry,” a solemn Christie told reporters during a morning briefing in which he outlined the damage from Sandy.

“The level of devastation on the Jersey Shore is unthinkable,” Christie said, adding that officials are “nowhere near” being able to let residents back onto the Barrier Islands. “It would be completely unsafe for homeowners to think about today or anytime in the next couple days about going back on the barrier islands. So we want everyone to be patient in that regard,” he said.

Christie said he could not predict how long it would take to restore the region.

“It is beyond anything I thought I would ever see,” he said. “Terrible. So we need to remain patient, let the waters recede, then we can go in and make an assessment about rebuilding that section of the Jersey Shore. It is a terrible sight right now.”

Christie said he spoke to President Barack Obama at midnight. “He assured me that we would have an expedited process with FEMA,” Christie said.